A grounded theory approach to developing a career change model in hospitality

The purpose of this paper is to create a substantive theory explaining career change. A grounded theory approach was employed to explore the decision to change careers for young hotel managers. We use data from a series of open-ended interviews with people who have left the hotel industry to create a model explaining early career changes. This paper expands on current literature by analyzing the viewpoint of those who have changed careers to better understand the phenomenon, and seeks to identify the key reasons why young hotel professionals change their careers. In contrast to most current research, the findings indicate that job satisfaction and professional identity were not key factors in the decision to change careers. However, dissatisfaction with career progression did seem very important, and work to life conflict, which is seldom studied in career change literature, was found to be a key component of career change.